Category Archives: Personal Updates

Those are a real painHave you ever got to work one hour late, or worse, early because you forgot to set the DST on your alarm? Yeah, me too. That’s why most of us uses our cellphone as our welcoming-back-to-reality alarm in the morning. They all set their time automatically according to a time server, just like our computers, and are always right… right? Well no, the protocol used to update the time over the air on cellphones is horrible. It have no confirmation bit which means nothing certifies you that your phone will update to the right DST settings.

I had a really nice bad luck, and it happened on both my iPhone and iPad. All my friends phones where all right and searching on Google shown that only a few number of people had the same problem.

WorkaroundSo I’ve figured out a workaround if you are using an iPhone or iPad. Most cellphone carrier will tell you to shutdown the device or to turn airplane mode on. It will not work on iDevices. If you happen to have this problem, the only way to solve it is to remove your sim card and to put it back in. That will trigger a time update and should fix your issue.

About the next postI’m pretty busy right now, so I still didn’t had the time to write that post about protecting your iDevices yet. But rejoice as it gave me a lot of time to test a bunch of different solutions for both iPads and iPhones and I think I’ve found exactly what you want. Stay tuned for a new update.

WordPress switchSwitching over to WordPress was the best thing that could happen for me. It is so much more easier to manage posts, pages, media and everything that I don’t even know why I stayed with Bloggers for that long. But, I’d like to know it the switch has been smooth with you, readers. So, for those of you how followed me since the Bloggers days, I’d like to know how you like the new layout. Is it good enough? Is it worth paying the CSS edit upgrade and customize it a little? Would you add more stuff to it?

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A call for help
I decided to wrote this post, even if it goes out of the range of what this blog should talk about, after reading the enclosed article (click on the title) which propose a “poor” solution about the problem that appeared recently with 30 sec music preview that are on various online music store. Everyone talk about it since one week and I think it’s the perfect time to reply.

The “poor” solution
The solution proposed by CrunchGeer is to simply ban music. As it is a solution, it is more temporary and risky than anything else. But still, Nickolas Deleon did risked to propose a solution and that’s what important. Unfortunately, this ban would only cause the same thing to happen with the movie industry where previews would need to be bought. I don’t even want to talk about software demos and other kind of consumable that could be “previewed”.

One people did offered a more realistic solution. You can see his comment on the same post under the name “Mika” where he say: “[…] promotion of music for commercial purposes by anyone other than the performers themselves is banned […]”. It is a better solution than the total ban as it will not create what I call the “Fahrenheit 451 Effect”. If you know the book, you know what I’m talking about. You can resume it by “banning any form of expression is bad and might get the humanity to it’s end”.

The good solution
What can be banned to solve this problem that is not considered as a form of expression? To answer this question, you must know why you need to banish something. It’s not the fact that people want stuff that cause this issue. It’s not the fact that people want it to be free. It’s not the fact that creators want a reward for their product that cause the issue. It’s the fact that people NEED a reward to live.

In this case, the reward is money but it could be anything else. I’d like to quote a talk between two fictional characters that live in a world where this issue doesn’t exist :

– How much does this thing cost?
– The economic of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesn’t exist in the 24th century.
– No money? You meen you don’t get paid?
– The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in ours live. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.

You might have recognized Lili and Jean-Luc Picard from the “Star Trek – First Contact” movie that was released about 13 years ago. Believe it or not, this is the only solution to those issues. It will not only solve music issues but poverty and starvation too. That’s without saying that it would rectify our justice system and could prevent many wars.

I know, I know, everyone can dream but. Isn’t there a saying that if many people have the same dream, it will come true? Well if there is, that make at least two: Me and Gene Roddenberry.

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News
Sorry for the long silence. You might have been wondering what where happening here since the release of Snow Leopard. If you where, the answer is “A LOT”. If you weren’t, the answer is still the same! Take a look at what is coming and you’ll certainly like it.

Snow Leopard
I’m pretty sure that you can’t take anything more about this new release of OS X but still, I want to add my word to it. I’ll try to work out a new screen-cast to compare Windows 7 and OS X 10.6 file management systems. I think it will be a nice follow up to the last one which was about networking. It should be on YouTube in about one or two weeks.

Server
As some of you might have heard, I decided to build a nice file server for my home. But, if you follow this blog since its beginning, you know that I can’t stand cheep stuff. So… I might have overkilled it a bit. Look forward to a little how to build your own core i7 based enterprise class server! I’ll also stitch to that my little 4 days adventure to build mine.

School
I hear you already. YES! I’m STILL going to school. College to be exact. My 5th session in software development started about a month ago and I’m starting to have less and less time so you should expect that the 1-week-1-post formula could be a bit… stretched?

For those interested, my current classes are “Advanced C++ Programming”, “Software Testing Basics”, “Advance Database Programming” and “Advance Computer Network”. If you ever have questions about any computer subject, I should be able to answer them.

Company
That one is a bigger subject. It’s been about two years that the idea first popup with my friends. We finally decided to go on with it and it’s now official: We’re working for an early 2010 opening. We are posted in Québec/Canada, more precisely in the Saint-Jérôme City, and we’re aiming big. The company is named “Centre de Solutions Informatiques” (or “Computer Solution Center” for all of you non-french reader) and we’re doing exactly what the name says. We’re building all-in-one solutions for people and enterprises from low end hardware running Windows up to custom made high end hardware running custom made softwares.

More to come
I know that this is more of a teaser than a real post but, it’s not like I have much time to write right now. You should expect the server story in about a week if nothing goes into my plans.

See you next week!

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The iPhone 3GS pricing just went live
Today, Rogers and Fido announced their pricing for the new iPhone 3GS. They will cost 199 CAD for the 16 GB version and 299 CAD for the 32 GB version. Or, are they? That’s if you’re ready to get involved in a pretty big adventure since those come not with 2 years contract but 3 years contract! Well… Ok… It’s not that bad if you really think about it since you’ll obviously be able to upgrade next year to the newer version. Well… Kinda… What they don’t tell you is that it’s not because you pay 125 CAD a month to get a basic plan that they will do you some favors.

This is the exact situation I am with my iPhone 3G right now. I have a plan that I consider basic when compared to our USA counterpart (details follow) and they are asking me to pay the full price to get a 3GS! What does that tell? Well it make me feel just as someone who didn’t gave them just about 1 500 bucks during the last and want an iPhone. That’s it! I have to pay the same price as someone who want an iPhone 3GS without any plan, no 3 years engagement, ANYTHING!

This is just outrageous!
Why the heck would I have to pay 800 CAD for an iPhone 3GS where you can get the same damn thing for 500 USD just 200 km south! It just doesn’t make sense. And on top of that, Canadian buyers need to endure a three year contract with a company that will do anything to suck up you money. We already have to pay close to 3 times more than in the US to get a plan that is close to interesting. This is just outrageous!

My iPhone 3G
This is my actual situation. I’m stuck in a 3 year engagement (about 1 year done) and paying roughly 124.67 CAD each month for this plan :

Call time (day)

300 minutes

45.00 $

Call time (evening)

unlimited

Call time (weekend)

unlimited

Call time (incoming)

unlimited

Call time (waiting)

2 000 minutes

Data Plan

6 GB*

30.00 $

Visual Voicemail

yes

8.00 $

SMS

2 500

20.00 $

Show called ID

yes

MMS

none

1.50 $ per messages

Network Access fee

yes

6.95 $

*: This plan was only available for 3 month after the release of the iPhone 3G.

What do you think?
Do you think, just like me, than Rogers and Fido should not have to right to do this kind of thing? That what they are doing is just like big gas companies? I want to hear you opinion and even more if you think you might have a solution to this plague we are suffering.

Update 2009-06-17 20:43
I just talked to a fido representative and she said that even if Fido’s offer look final, it is not. They still haven decided on an upgrade pricing so they prefer to do not talk about it right now. She also said to ask an other time next week for further information.

Update 2009-06-27 14:21
Well, Rogers are offering them at the same price I stated earlier but Fido stuck with a very uninteresting pricing. They give us a 100 CAD rebate which is nice but still pretty low. Anyway, I decided to get my hand on an iPhone 3G S 32GB for review on this blog. It should get here in about 1-2 weeks.

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I did it…
Last week, while doing my college homework’s, Windows 7 crashed on me… for the 100th time since my last post (and I’m not exaggerating). I do have patience but I didn’t take that it took my work with him. So, I’ve bought an other computer. That old laptop was very nice but it had a little problem with sleep making it … not that school friendly.

As a result, I decided to go with the best line of laptop for students. Well, at least, that’s what students say. Yes, it’s an Apple computer and it will go well side by side with my Mac Pro. That’s an other review coming… when I’ll have less school work to do. I might also review my last laptop and one from the Sony Vaio line.